Credit Connect

Advisory specialist Baldwins, who last year joined CogitalGroup to form part of their international business service group, has announced its largest acquisition to date. The firm is expanding into Scotland with two acquisitions which will see its revenue grow to £89 million.

Campbell Dallas, which has offices in Glasgow, Perth, Kilmarnock, Stirling and Aberdeen, employs 260 staff and has an annual revenue of £16.5 million, will become part of the group. The business, which has been named accountancy firm of the year for three successive years since 2015 by the Scottish Accountancy & Finance Awards, will continue to trade as Campbell Dallas part of the Baldwins Group.

Baldwins has also acquired Edinburgh based Springfords which firm also has offices in Livingston and Falkirk. The three offices have 40 staff and an annual revenue of £2.7M.

These latest acquisitions increase Baldwins’ total number of offices to 53 across the UK, employing over 1,500 staff.

David Baldwin, a director at Baldwins, said; “Joining forces with Campbell Dallas and Springfords will lead to further growth for both businesses. It is very exciting for Baldwins to have offices in Scotland for the first time and we are looking to add further practices to our group. These two deals represent a major step forward for the group. Campbell Dallas has an exceptional reputation in Scotland for providing strategic business advice and extensive accountancy services.”

“Springfords is renowned in the industry for outstanding service with each client benefiting from individual advice from experts.We all share the same ambitions towards growth and we remain focused on providing information and expert advice to our clients every step of the way from start-ups to larger businesses. By working together, our expertise will mean we can all become stronger and grow our range of services and expand into new areas.”

Chris Horne, managing partner and head of corporate finance at Campbell Dallas, said “This acquisition is a natural fit for the two businesses. Campbell Dallas is one of the fastest growing businesses in Scotland and this is a great opportunity to accelerate our position in the Scottish market. The primary focus of Baldwins, like ours, is family run businesses and SMEs. The support and investment from CogitalGroup will mean we can provide extra services and give added value to our clients particularly in terms of technology. We will maintain the same high level of hands-on service that we are renowned for but we will have the added benefits of being part of an international group.”

John Connolly, Executive Chairman of CogitalGroup said “Since the launch of CogitalGroup in December last year the group has been growing rapidly and following these latest acquisitions in our Baldwins Division, we will have over 4,600 people operating from 137 offices in 7 countries. I am delighted to welcome 300 new people to our team.”